A Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system is a system that can supervise and control field devices and operations. SCADA systems are widely used in industries including electric power, fuel gas, chemical engineering, metallurgy, and railway. They can perform functions including data collection, device control, parameter adjustment, and measurement.
With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, more and more devices are connected to SCADA systems or other systems to provide information. It is difficult for an operator to select information he/she wants. Especially, artificial identification and manual selection of information in a field, for example, a workshop, a warehouse, a conduit, or a machine, takes a long time. Similar devices may puzzle operators, causing them to acquire incorrect information from the system.
Nowadays, with the development of augmented reality (AR) technology, image processing technology has become more and more sophisticated. Many mobile devices are capable of imaging processing for device identification. For example, QR codes, graphic marking cards, and other indicators are conventional means of simplifying the identification process and solving the problem of uniqueness.
With a method based on image processing, a characteristic point or characteristic shape of a target object is determined by image processing, and it is difficult to identify similar targets. In device identification, many devices in the same area are often of the same type. With a method based on image processing, it is difficult to identify a specific target device among a plurality of similar devices.
With a method based on QR code, a QR code is used to identify and track down a target that has an AR device, and information about the target is contained in the QR code associated with the target. The device, equipped with an image capturing unit and an image processing unit, can decode the QR code to acquire information about the target. In other words, much preparatory work, for example, generating a QR code and affixing it to each target, needs to be done before an identification operation.
In a method based on target indicator, target indicators are used to map a relationship between targets in a virtual environment and in the real world, and identifiers are used to identify the AR system and preset targets in the method. A camera records images of the real world by using identifiers and sets the positions of these identifiers to reference mapping points in a virtual world. Then, the targets are mapped between the virtual world and the real world. In this method, identifiers are essential for mapping, requiring completion of much preparatory work.
In a method based on graphic marking card, graphic marking cards are used to identify data collection points in a distributed control system. A marking card matches only one data collection point. Therefore, production of marking cards takes a long time.